The ultimate species
by GalacticPotato
Summary: After being pushed to the brink of death, the man hailed as the strongest and deadliest assasin in the entire world is sent to a strange dimension where he will undergo a series of trials with the goal of achieving evolution. Inspired on the novel terror infinity with few elements of the gamer.
1. Prologue

This is my very first work, I really hope you enjoy it.

"Normal dialogue"

' _Thoughts_ '

 **"GOD announcement"**

 **System output**

* * *

 **Prologue**

The smell of blood and gunpowder filled the air. Step by step, the bloodied figure of a man clothed entirely in black ascended the two-flight staircase of the abandoned residential building. Stumbling slightly, the figure supported himself on the old rusty handrail.

Trying with all his might not to tumble down, the man forced himself to keep walking, clutching the bullet wound on the lower part of his abdomen with his right hand.

' _I won't die, I can't die, not here, not yet_ '

The sound of shouts, followed by the sound of footsteps startled him, and woke him up of his mental stupor. Gathering all his remaining strength, the man accelerated the pace, trying to put some distance between him and his persecutors.

Arriving at the end of the staircase, the man found himself facing the rooftop's door. Opening the door, the cold wind of the night greeted him. Chills ran through his spine when the sound of footsteps got closer than before, announcing his impending doom.

Advancing through the rooftop, his eyes moved from one place to another, searching for a possible escape route, but sadly couldn't find any. Feeling dejected, the black robed man collapsed in the middle of the rooftop, his vision blurry. The loss of blood beginning to make effect on his body. The black hood fell over his shoulders, revealing the pale face of a young man on his early twenties. Strands of disheveled black hair partially covered his bloodshot eyes, filled with despair.

"Is this really the end? How could this be…?"

While the man was muttering to himself, the shadows of numerous people made appearance through the doorway. All of them wearing the same attire as the young man, and were clearly part of the same organization. Leading the group of people was a beautiful blond woman. Her perfectly curvaceous body, combined with an oval shaped face and round eyes made her look like one of those beauties out of a fairy tale, but in the eyes of the young man, she was nothing more than a filthy witch.

When the woman laid her eyes on the collapsed figure of the young man, she gave out a mocking laughter. That laughter pierced right through the soul of the young man, who looked at her intensely, rage and hatred almost palpable on his gaze.

"Hahahaha! Look at you! , the so called strongest assassin, the night crawler, the man who took a thousand lives. But you're nothing more than a beaten dog now! Hahahahaha!"

"Selene! You treacherous bitch…!"

The young man cursed at her and then coughed, blood stained his hands that were beginning to shake, and the cold started spreading to his upper limbs. It was at this moment that the young man noticed that he could not feel his legs anymore.

The woman in front of him whose name was Selene, who he has been partners with for the last four years, and have known each other since they were children and have grown together, was now selling him to the organization. It was because of pure casualty that he got his hands on some high-tech blueprints during one of his missions, and that was enough reason for her to convince the higher ups of the organization to hunt him down and try to steal it.

"Hahahaha! Oh little Marcus, you are so naïve! Having feelings of attachment to someone who gains her life by killing is just stupid! Do you really believed those things that I said? That I loved you? Hahahaha!"

Those mocking words felt like a giant hammer that got slammed on the chest of Marcus, sending shivers throughout his entire body.

"Oh, and let me tell you something! Even if you didn't have those blueprints, I would still have done what I did! You just gave me an excuse to act! The fact that you were to be disposed of was already decided for both our families! Hahahahaha! Look at you, how pitiful!"

Realization struck Marcus as he heard those words, and that was the last drop that overflowed the glass. Marcus's body went cold, and his soul seemed to have left it. Like pulled by some invisible strings, Marcus stood up slowly, and despite of the massive blood loss, his movements were nothing close to dull.

Looking at the Marcus in that state, Selene felt a sense of danger, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of satisfaction. Seeing the man that was hailed as the deadliest predator struggling while covered in blood, knowing that she was the one that made it possible filled her with pride.

With a grin of victory, Selene gave a signal to the group of people, and they answered by pointing their guns at Marcus, who was still standing in the same spot.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Suddenly a crazy laugh escaped his lips. His black hair no longer covering his eyes, which seemed to glow a deep shade of red under the moonlight. The group of people, including the blonde, took a step back in fear. And then, realizing what they just have done, felt an increasing sense of shame, followed by rage.

"Just die already! Kill him!"

Hearing the words of Selene, a barrage of bullets flew at Marcus way faster than what the human eye could perceive. It was at this moment that something incredible occurred.

"What…" "Gasp…" "That can't be!"

In the middle of the rain of bullets, Marcus moved in an incredibly swift manner, following an apparently random way. The hitmen of the association and the blonde woman looked awestruck at the scene, and couldn't react on time when in an act of extreme speed, Marcus sprinted to the border of the rooftop. Marcus gave a look of disdain to the people on the rooftop, and then with a hearty laugh, jumped down the twelve store building.

Amidst the fall, Marcus couldn't help but think about his really short life. The memories of the times when he and Selene played as two little children, and all those nights the two spend together years later came at him. Also those memories of the time when he was being trained by his family to be one of the most skilled assassins, and the time when he completed his first successful mission and became a full-fledged assassin. He suddenly realized that his life just consisted in things other people wanted him to do. Suddenly, a sense of unwillingness cursed through his chest, and his eyes glowed with the same red light as before.

"No! I won't let them do this to me, I won't"

He extended his hands up the sky, trying to grab onto something, whatever that might be able to help him in this situation, but it was too late. The floor was getting closer with every second, and with the final air left in his tired lungs he let out a loud roar.

"I! AM! UNWILLING!"

It was at that same moment that lightning struck, and then everything was darkness for Marcus.


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to the E-Project!

**Chapter 1: Welcome to the E-Project!**

Marcus's body was feeling tense, and a deep sense of discomfort ran through him. He soon realized that his body was frozen still, incapable of any sort of movement, no matter how small. An intense coldness enveloped him, and his head was clouded with a strange feeling of numbness, driving any coherent thought out of his mind.

Without knowing how much time have passed in this lethargic state of semi-consciousness, Marcus suddenly found himself assaulted by an abrupt sensation of warmth. Like flowing water, that warmness washed over his body, pushing away the biting cold that threatened to freeze his very soul. His heavy eyelids trembled slightly, and then began to open very slowly.

"What in the world?" Murmured Marcus as he stared in incredulity. What greeted his vision was a blinding silvery light that shrouded his entire body like some kind luminescent blanket. Bellow this seemingly supernatural light, the frame of his naked figure could be seen. His line of sight went to the place on his lower abdomen where the lethal wound of a gunshot used to be, and what he saw made his eyes completely wide.

Instead of the bloody mess resulted from the desperate battle to survive the all-out assault of the organization, illuminated by the ethereal silvery light was a completely healed abdomen. Not a single mark could be found where the injury should be, and his skin shined with a healthy white color. "How is this possible?"

Trying to move, Marcus noticed that his body was still feeling rigid, but the feeling of rigidness was disappearing as the strange light wrapped around him. Little by little, Marcus recovered his mobility. Turning his neck, Marcus gazed at his surroundings, only to find himself in a completely dark space devoid of any object. The strange nature of the silvery light stood out inside of the seemingly infinite darkness. Focusing his attention on the light, Marcus observed how it moved around him. At first he thought that the light acted as some sort of liquid, but when he looked closely, found out that the "liquid" was in reality a bunch of really tiny light dots that moved in random pathways, changing places without any discernible pattern.

When the little light dots started dying out, any previous sense of discomfort banished without a trace, and his mobility was fully recovered. Marcus stretched his muscles, shaking away the little remains of numbness, and then stood up slowly. In spite of looking completely void, Marcus noticed that he could walk on the darkness, as if there existed some sort of invisible floor that prevented him of falling into the unknown abyss.

Staring into the abyss that lied bellow his feet, Marcus frowned and focused on remembering everything that happened before arriving at this place. He remembered being ambushed after walking out of one of his designated hideouts, then killing his way out of the encirclement, not before being shot by Selene, who he thought had had come to his aid. He remembered being persecuted all the way through the abandoned suburbs with an open wound that would have incapacitated any other person. And finally he remembered trying to hide inside the abandoned residential building, just to be spotted soon after and being forced to jump down the roof, and considering that the building was at least twelve stories high, then the fall should have killed him for sure.

"Am I dead? And if not, how did I get here? This doesn't make any sense." Marcus kept musing to himself, when suddenly something caught his sight. Lifting up his gaze, Marcus observed a strange mirror in the middle of the darkness. Knowing perfectly that said mirror wasn't there at the beginning was enough to put him on a state of alertness.

With his guard up, Marcus walked slowly towards the mirror. When he got closer, Marcus noticed that the strange mirror was covered in a hazy silvery light composed of the same little dots that he saw earlier surrounding him.

Out of curiosity, Marcus got even closer to the mirror, and his gaze wandered over said object's structure, trying to have a better understanding of the thing that just popped out of thin air. The thing was a dark grey in color, but the glass was like nothing he has seen before, it looked almost like a hazy fog that swirled around the insides of the mirror's frame. Said frame was ink black, almost concealed with the dark environment, but the little dots of silvery light that floated over it made it possible to appreciate the exquisite ornament.

Marcus couldn't hold back his curiosity and reached out with his hand, trying to touch the grey surface. The little voice in his head that screamed to him the strangeness and possibly dangerousness of the situation was outclassed by the necessity to know more about this place. Without even knowing, he was being influenced by the hypnotic nature of the mirror.

When his hand touched the mirror, the hazy fog began spinning violently, and then suddenly dispersed. The surprise in the eyes of Marcus got apparent, when in the place of the fog, a picture of himself plus a bunch of characters appeared on the surface of the mirror.

 **Participant's Information:**

 **Name: Marcus**

 **Age: 23**

 **Title: None**

 **-Vitality: 3.2**

 **-Strength: 2.1**

 **-Dexterity: 7.4**

 **-Spirit: 2.3**

 **-Perception: 7.4**

 **Free EP: 0**

 **List of Skills:**

 **Close Combat Mastery (Basic): lvl 8**

 **Gun Mastery (Basic): lvl 7**

 **Stealth (Basic): lvl 8**

 **Detect Danger (Basic): lvl 9**

Marcus stared at the picture on the mirror, which was a perfect 3D replica of himself. A little more than average stature of 1.78 meters, with short black hair and a pair of intelligent eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. The rest of his body, he noticed, was completely bare, showing the muscles built over the passage of years of training, and the numerous scars that covered his pale white skin, obtained through a long career as an assassin. Overall, Marcus was a handsome young man, however, hidden behind that face was a cold killing machine. "Wait…something's wrong" Said Marcus lowering his gaze, just to notice he have been naked the whole time. "Never mind, in this kind of situation, being naked is the less of my concerns" Murmured Marcus as he shrugged at the idea of spontaneous nakedness, and then focused his attention on the characters that appeared just beside his image.

When he looked close, Marcus read the letters on the mirror, and the more he read, the more shocked he became. ' _What's this? It looks like something out of a video game_ ' he thought to himself, remembering a time when he had to play a game for days just to get close to a target that enjoyed online RPG's as a hobby, just to cut his throat with a knife whilst clearing a dungeon. Anyway, he enjoyed the experience a little, no matter how many people he killed for money, he is still a young man. But to see something like a stat and skill's page in real life was nothing short of disorienting.

Observing the information showed in the mirror, Marcus began to think. After jumping off that building, he thought he was going to die, but somehow he was transported to a weird space where he was treated of his injuries, and now in that space appeared a mirror showing information about himself as if he were a game character. But the thing that bothered the most was the numbers that represented his stats. ' _Why are they so low?_ ' Thought Marcus, his face slowly distorting into a deep frown. ' _No, that's not important right now, what I need to know is why I'm here'._

" **Hello! And welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the E-Project!"** While Marcus was thinking about numerous reasons that could have ended with him in this sort of situation, a thunderous robotic voice resounded in the dark space, making him jump away of the mirror and adopt a ready to combat stance. He was frantically searching for the origin of the voice when his eyes fell on the mirror, which unbeknown to him had changed yet again.

In the surface on the mirror, where just a moment ago was information about Marcus, was the image of a man with elegant clothing. He wore a black smoking and black pants, combined whit elegant black shoes. On his head wore a very tall top-hat, which top looked as it didn't fit inside the mirror. His face was blurred, but for some reason Marcus could feel a piercing gaze on him, like he was being stared at by an incredibly dangerous predator.

Watching the figure of the man inside the mirror, Marcus had the impression that this was some kind of recording, but the feeling of being observed was still unnerving. " **Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations for being selected to be part of the most interesting! Most fabulous! Most awesomegrandamazingowhermelmingbreathtaking game in existence!"** Continued the man in the mirror, making a lot of exaggerated movements towards an invisible audience. Marcus listened to the man, a thick frown appearing on his face. Clearly, whoever was the one talking in the mirror was out of his mind, and the fact that someone like that can make him feel pressured with just a recording was worrying.

" **Right now you must be wondering! Who is the incredibly handsome man talking in the mirror? Well, am god of course!"** And the frown just deepened. ' _This is such a bullshit_ ' thought Marcus, but despite of the absurdness of the situation, he didn't dare to neglect whatever the man in the mirror was saying.

" **Out of complete boredom, one day I decided to select people with certain qualities from all over the world, and gift them an incredibly rare opportunity! Can you guess what it is? Huh? BINGO! The opportunity to improve themselves, to make themselves better!"** The image in the mirror changed, and instead of the weird god, showed the image of a muscled man, fighting an army of what looked like demons with his bare hands. The image changed again, and instead showed a beautiful woman using an ability akin to telekinesis to stop a rain of arrows, and then redirecting it to her aggressors. Images kept changing, time and time again showing super human people using different abilities. " **The multiverse is a place filled with strange and powerful abilities! And you could be the one to obtain them all here, in the E-Project"**

The more Marcus listened, the more intrigued he became about this so called E-Project. The power to fight an army with his bare hands? The power to move thigs with his mind? All of those were things out of fantasies, but if what this so called god is saying is true, then maybe he would be able to obtain them. Marcus clenched his fist, thinking of what he could do to all those people who betrayed him with those super powers. At that moment a fire seemed to ignite inside of him, and his mind became increasingly determined. Whatever this E-Project may throw at him, he would face it all, for the sake of his revenge, and for the sake of improving himself.

The mirror stopped showing people, and returned to the crazy god, who appeared to be grinning in spite of his face being nothing but a blurred mist. " **In short, you, the new participants of the E-Project will be introduced to the tutorial, In which you will receive more answers. And that's it! Again, welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the E-Project!"**

After the man stopped talking, his image disappeared of the mirror's surface, and was replaced by a big letter "E", written in a deep crimson red color. He didn't notice when it was, but a crazy grin adorned Marcus's face. Then he laughed, laughed like the entire world has disappeared, and certainly it was so. After laughing for a few couple of minutes, his face turned serious again. A determined glint dyed his eyes. "You just wait…all of you".


End file.
